Mario Eisouoku ~ Illusionary Blossom of Cranium Prayer (Smw Hack) - HackJam Entry 5/13

Channel:

Big Brawler

Subscribers:

11,400

Published on December 17, 2021 5:00:05 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OlPrv5y9uc

Game:

Super Mario World (1990)

Duration: 43:40

1,056 views

27

Hack Name: マリオ永草億　～ Illusionary Blossom of Cranium Prayer
Team: N/A
Members: E-man38, bebn legg, Koopster, Valentine, Mellonpizza
Thread Release: https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=119983

Fifth entry and the one i was curious to check out when i saw the thread, i should have guessed it was a touhou inspired game, what do i think? well, glad you didn't asked

Gameplay:
Another entry in a row that changes the gameplay, and it's fine, it works, Mario controls have been altered to go more fast than usual, i can go all speed and crazy. Additionally you can press L or R to "Focus", or in other words, slow down to concentrate and be more careful. You collect some sort of cards instead of coins, and they serve a purpose, pump up that fancy High Score, isn't that neat? and if you want extra juicy numbers you can go close to the bullets you build more "Graze" points, and what does that do to you? more points, so unless you like these arcadey things you may like it, for me however, i don't care. Now, if you are interested in those Grazing mechanic and how to increase your high score, as i said you can run or be close to the bullets, because yes, almost everything in this hack fires bullets, Danmaku if we talk touhou lingo, those little fire bullets would cover the screen for you to either risk taking damage or avoid, your choice, so yeah, additionally, some stages features minibosses, they are optional however and they purpose is just to increase the score so you can avoid it and choose not to fight it. all this hack is a touhou inspired project so if you played or like touhou this may be for you. Now, the complains because yes i have some, as i said, im not a touhou fan, i know what they are and their gameplay, levels are fine, some are good structured but some stages go out all the way to fill the screen and some have some weird design choices, taking the second level for example, the midpoint is before the Mini Boss, this means, each time you die you have to go through the mini boss even if you don't want to fight, and even if you want to fight, what do you do? did i forgot to learn a special move? because i tried stomping, spin jumping and trying to make it fall in the pit but nothing, so yeah, i say this is a weird choice because in later levels, mini bosses are before the midpoint, thus if you die you don't have to fight it again, now back to level 2, the level is structred in such a way that bullets are fired to you, the main instance i can think of is the bowser statue aside the pipe with two piranha plants and the corridor with 3 thwomps and one monty mole, and you only resist 2 hits so good luck. Later levels are more bearable, but that's thanks to some levels having extra mushrooms in the beginning of the level, so just take it, exit level, profit, and for the other mini bosses, i just didn't bother
Now the positives, because this has some despite my complains, for one, most of the levels are good, specially the ice level, the bridge one, and the night sky one, i love these, i had more fun with these levels than the first ones. The final boss was cool also, it was a fun challenge

Music:
This is another positive thing, kind of. As i said, i don't care for touhou things aside for some music tracks, and this hack has original music in touhou style, those accommodate the hack very well and some are catchy

Graphics:
For the most part the hack uses the vanilla tileset with changed palettes, the only custom graphics i have seen are some BGs, the card looking things and the title screen,

Conclusion:
Despite my anger towards the Grazing and the score, as well as some weird choices for stage 2, this hack is fine, if you like touhou, give it a try, you may find this more fun than me
7/10

Personal Ranking so far:
1.- Mario & Luigi - Mecha Koopa Mayhem
2.- Mario & Friends in: The Ghost's Gallery!
3.- Krack's Kafe
4.- Mario Eisouoku ~ Illusionary Blossom of Cranium Prayer
5.- Lost Mario

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